Empire Saga: The Fight for the Paradise, #1

by Lori Beery

  ‘It appears the scan-scattering material which formed the shell around the engine room is still intact,’ announced Dulain. ‘Can’t tell what is happening within the planetoid.’

  ‘I’m getting lots of chatter,’ reported Lucera. ‘Seems the pirate leader has ordered personnel to abandon ship. Something about equipment and pods disintegrating. There’s a lot of static and screaming. I can’t make it out.’

  ‘Report noted,’ I said. ‘Seems we don’t need to deploy that additional ward. How long before the Paradise returns to its original route?’ I asked.

  ‘Captain Lawrence says it will be one hundred thirty-five deci, barring any surprises along our current path,’ replied Lucera.

  ‘What do your scans show?’ I inquired.

  ‘It looks clear,’ she answered. ‘We will continue to keep a close watch.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘Anybody see any ships fleeing the area?’

  ‘I did,’ responded KwinJai. ‘The vessel was cloaked, but its ion trail suggests it was heading away from Thendara and towards the frontier.”

  ‘How long ago?’ I asked.

  ‘Just after Jacarr delivered his last package,’ he replied. ‘It looked like it was stationed behind the rock hangers.’

  ‘Dulain, did you pick it up?’ I questioned.

  ‘No,’ he answered. ‘I guess I was focused on the planetoid.’

  ‘So was I,’ I told him. ‘That ship is probably on its way to the overall pirate leader with the report that things didn’t go as planned here.’

  ‘That is good news for us! At least for now,’ commented Marleah.

  ‘True, but we need to stay alert,’ I responded. ‘Who won the competition?’ I asked Jacarr and KwinJai.

  ‘It was a tie,’ replied KwinJai. ‘We destroyed our last ships delivering our packages.’

  ‘Were the packages sandys?’ I asked.

  ‘Indeed,’ said Jacarr. He was fighting very hard to not smile. ‘We wanted to be sure the hangers and docking bays were rendered useless,’ he added.

  ‘Nice work,’ I told them. ‘Actually, you all did great! Thank you all! Since we still have one hundred ten deci left, let’s run some careful scans. Let’s be sure there aren’t any combatants waiting out there.’

  We all set to work actively scanning the area. We found ship fragments and rocks, but picked up no life readings in the vicinity of the replica, our back trail, or the pirate base.

  ‘I found something,’ reported Marleah. ‘It appears to be a cloaked… object. I detected nothing but an infinitesimally small change in the speed of light from one side to the other.’

  ‘Can we scatter a few sandys on it and watch what happens?’ asked KwinJai.

  ‘That’s an idea,’ I commented. ‘Let’s see what happens if we shove a rock at them first.’

  After selecting a likely candidate, I used the replica’s weapons to power a repulsive wave I channeled into the rock. The pulse was forceful enough to accelerate it into the object. As the rock neared the collision point, a strange thing occurred. The rock vanished and reappeared moments later – presumably on the other side of the object.

  ‘Everybody see that?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes,’ they all chorused.

  ‘That is an excellent example of stealth technology!’ remarked Jacarr.

  ‘Wonder who owns it?’ inquired Dulain.

  ‘I think it is time for some sandys,’ I said. ‘Maybe we can get a peek at that ship, or whatever it actually is.’

  KwinJai showed me where some of the molecular machines were floating near the object. They were part of the cloud that Lucera had changed the ‘friend’ codes on and that he and Jacarr had redistributed. I teleported some of them onto the unknown item. They quickly began their work of disassembling. Before long, we could see that a ship hid under the cloak. The design was totally unknown, even after all the pirate vessels we had seen today.

  I had Marleah send the ‘friend’ code to the sandys. The tiny machines halted their chewing activity. The emitter net that covered the ship’s haul had obvious holes in it. As we watched, the net repaired itself. It took less than twenty five deci to effect the fix. It was impressive.

  ‘Marleah, contact that ship,’ I directed. ‘Please use the replica as the source.’

  “Unknown vessel, this is the PC Replica,” she stated. “Please identify yourself and your intentions.”

  Several deci of silence followed. A stream of sound came to our ears. None of us could make sense of it.

  “Unknown vessel, we hear the sounds you are sending but we do not understand your speech,” she said. “Perhaps, if we could see your image as you speak, we could understand your words.”

  Again we were treated to silence.

  ‘The ship is powering up,’ said Dulain.

  ‘Stop sending the ‘friend’ code to the sandys,’ I ordered. ‘When the cloak starts to drop, begin scanning. Let’s see what we can learn about that ship and its crew.’

  As soon as we stopped sending the ‘friend’ code, the molecular machines began disassembling the vessel anew. The cloak dropped. My team began running scans. Our communication device roared with sound. The signal was audio only. It appeared the people of the unknown vessel didn’t want to show themselves.

  ‘There is some sort of field generating around the ship,’ announced Dulain. ‘It is compressing in front of the vessel and expanding behi– it’s gone!’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ I agreed. ‘Anybody get anything on that ship?’

  ‘No more than what we had before,’ replied Jacarr. ‘It had an unfamiliar design and very advanced stealth and repair technology.’

  The rest of my Hexacle supported Jacarr’s statement. We discovered nothing more except that the unknown vessel could accelerate from nothing to gone in a very short time. We tried to rule out that it had micro jumped from where we found it to somewhere close by, but we could not.

  ‘We are back on our original course,’ reported Lucera. ‘We have just pulled in front of the replica.’

  ‘Thank you, Lucera,’ I responded. ‘Except for our unknown guest, we detect no other vessels in the vicinity.’

  ‘Wonder if they were able to dislodge or deactivate those sandys,’ speculated KwinJai.

  ‘No way to know,’ commented Dulain.

  ‘If debris from an unknown ship with a complex emitter net gets discovered, we could conclude the sandys won,’ remarked KwinJai.

  ‘True enough,’ I said. ‘Lucera, prepare to drop the replica’s image. Everyone else, let’s get ready to drop the Paradise’s cloak. When I say now, act. – Now.’

  At my word, the replica vanished and the ward cloaking the Paradise was removed. Only the Paradise continued on her course for Thendara Station.

  ‘Do you want us to return to the cargo bay?’ asked Lucera.

  ‘No,’ I replied. ‘Ask the Captain if the rest of us may join you on the bridge. Let him know I am making the request.’

  ‘He says come ahead,’ she relayed.

  ‘We will be there shortly,’ I told her.

  We each applied our ward-skins. Then, we gathered up our stuff, namely the crystals. I teleported our empty drink cups to the replicator in our suite. As we started walking toward the bay doors, Dulain removed the lining and cargo protecting ward. We exited the bay and made our way to the bridge.

  Once there, we were greeted with applause. We smiled our acknowledgment of their gratitude.

  Rising to his feet, the Captain said, “On behalf of the crew and passengers of this ship, thank you! We are well and the vessel is whole.”

  “That it is, Captain,” I replied. “There are a few matters we need to disclose when your duties will allow.”

  “Our boards are all green,” he stated. “We are passed the pirate base.” He turned to the commander. “Commander Fisher, you have the bridge.”

  “Yes, Sir,” responded the Commander. “I have the bridge.”

  With that, the Captain led us to his ready roo
m. Once we were all settled in the sitting area, he asked, “What matters?”

  “Captain, we were able to foil the pirate’s plans for the Paradise,” I said. “We did destroy the pirate fleet and the pirate base. But, two things have us concerned. We saw two vessels leave the vicinity. One was a pirate vessel heading for the frontier, not, as far as we could tell, toward Thendara Station. The other vessel is a mystery. The design is totally unknown. It possesses some very sophisticated stealth and repair technology. It didn’t use a light drive, but it accelerated from nothing to gone in a milli-sub-deci.”

  “How are these vessels a concern?” asked the captain.

  “The pirate vessel that headed into the frontier is a concern because it carries word that this plan for Thendara failed,” I answered. “From the probe, we learned that the pirates wanted to use the Paradise to get their people onto Thendara without arousing suspicion. When the replica seemed too hard to take, the pirates opted to destroy her or themselves. It seemed the leader of this base was desperate to achieve his goal. Maybe he had a boss.”

  “So, the pirate threat to Thendara or any vessel on approach or otherwise is still very high,” acknowledged the captain.

  “Yes, but we have delayed the attack on Thendara,” I added.

  “And the fast mystery ship?” he inquired.

  “Let us show you our encounter with it,” I suggested. ‘Marleah, please proceed.’ Marleah displayed her discovery of the unknown vessel and our resulting interaction with it as though it was a hologram.

  “That is amazing!” exclaimed the captain. “Do you suppose they were able to survive those… sandys?”

  “Unknown,” I said. “We think they departed the area, but, we have no proof. We could not locate them once they vanished. Perhaps Lt. Dresdan can take a look at their communications signal. Hopefully, he can make some sense of it”

  “Of course,” replied the Captain. “May I have the chip-drive?”

  “Absolutely,” answered Marleah as she laid a chip-drive into the Captain’s hand.

  “I will keep you posted as to what the Lieutenant discovers,” the Captain told us.

  “Thank you, Captain,” I responded.

  “No, Hexator,” said the Captain. “Thank you for keeping us alive. We will get to Thendara safely now.”

  “You are welcome, Captain,” I returned. “How long is it to Thendara?”

  “Nine more days,” he answered.

  “Ah, that is good news,” I remarked. “Thank you for your time, Sir. We shall be on our way.”

  “Enjoy yourselves,” he said.

  We exited his ready room through the door opposite the entrance to the bridge. We got breakfast at the Copper Skillet on Deck 2. Then, we proceeded to our suite and some much needed rest.

  Chapter 22

  The Paradise continued on course for Thendara Station. We ran continuous sensor sweeps around the ship. I figured it would keep us busy and provide comfort to the Captain. So far, our scans hadn’t turned up anything noteworthy, no cloaked vessels, no ships of any type, not even signs of an ion trail. All we found was: space.

  We suspected that the communications relay lay out along our route. We knew it had been damaged and that the pirates were responsible. What we didn’t know was whether or not the saboteurs were still in the vicinity of the relay. If they were, would they assume the pirates had taken us over or would they know that the plan had failed? The salient point: Would they attack us?

  On the sixth day out from Thendara, we identified two Imperial frigates on a collision course with us. Their scans and transmissions indicated they were searching for us. Hopefully, they had been dispatched to render aid to the Paradise, to insure the she made it safely the rest of the way to the station.

  “Captain Lawrence,” I said through the communicator, “It appears the cavalry is coming.”

  “They are?” he questioned. After a pause he added, “They aren’t showing up on our scans.”

  “They are heading toward us along our route,” I told him. “They have just entered the light-day sphere around the Paradise.”

  “Ah, we will be on the lookout for them,” he responded. “Have you detected any other vessels within the sphere?”

  “No, Sir,” I replied. “The only ships we have discovered, other than the Paradise, are the two approaching Imperial frigates.”

  “Good,” he responded obviously relieved. “Please keep me posted of any other contacts.”

  “Of course,” I told him.

  As soon as I ended my transmission, the Captain ordered Lt. Dresdan to begin trying to make contact with the incoming vessels. Before too long, they were in dialogue with one of the frigates. I choose to monitor that communication. Thankfully for me, the frigates were to escort the Paradise to Thendara to ensure our safe arrival there. Knowing that allowed me a measure of relief. Just maybe my Hexacle and I would reach Dinave.

  *****

  Our voyage continued. Simone came on the fourth day out from the Station. I ran her last in-depth scan. I was pleased to report to her that there was still no sign of the cancer resurging. She remained cancer free! Her joy awarded me many thanks, hugs, and kisses; a very pleasant surge of emotion. As promised, I gave her the second chip-drive with her third and final in-depth scan. She left our suite with an energetic spring in her step.

  At long last, we were within the red-level buoys surrounding Thendara Station. Soon we would be able to see our destination with our own eyes, a sight I was very much looking forward to, as well as dreading. I desperately hoped they had not yet received any orders regarding me or my friends.

  Finally, we caught sight of the Station. It hung like a great spindle in space. There was a great dome at one end with, what appeared to be, four great docking arms set perpendicular to each other just under the dome. These arms emerged from a smaller sphere. We guessed this was the travel hub where passengers entered, made their connections, and exited the Station. Then, it shrank to a shaft until it reached the other end of the spindle where it spread out into a large disk. Presumably, this was the top of another great dome. Our position kept us from seeing it.

  We docked in what was the Paradise’s assigned berth. It would be a while before we would be able to disembark. We spent that time making sure we had all of our belongings, not that any of us had that much. We did decide to wear our Hexacle garb as we stepped onto the station. We figured that would satisfy the station workers and the military personnel about our identities. That was our hope in any case.

  When we did disembark, we followed the flow of our fellow passengers along passageways to a main plaza within the small sphere. The space was large with a glassed-in balcony covering a quarter of the internal dome. It seemed to be an operations room for the travel hub, if not the whole station. The view from it would include the whole enclosure, with the exception of the space below it. However, that space was where the information desk was located. This area, as well as the booth above, was manned by people dressed in brown uniforms.

  We stopped in the middle of the plaza to get our bearings. As we paused, I was just about to direct us over to the desk, when we all felt a presence hurrying toward us. When we turned toward the base of the booth, we noticed a middle-aged human dressed in a brown operations uniform advancing on us. He moved with determination and his mind was filled with curiosity, concern, and… wonder.

  “Lord Hexator,” he called waving a hand.

  “Yes?” I asked as I stepped toward him. My Hexacle stood at my back.

  “Lord Hexator, I am Commander Liam Heidler,” he said. “Welcome to Thendara Station.”

  “Thank you, Commander Heidler,” I said. “I am Hexator Nickoli and this is my Hexacle.”

  “I understand you were passengers aboard the Paradise,” he continued.

  “Yes,” I acknowledged. I felt dread rise within me, but his emotions and his speech did not fit with someone coming to carry out an arrest.

  “Well, Sir,” he replied. “I thank
you for all you did for the Paradise. Captain Lawrence told me you defended the ship against an extremely large pirate fleet.”

  “We were glad to have been of service,” I responded. “Other than the attack on the Paradise and the communications relay, has there been any other pirate activity?”

  “We have had reports of vessel movement,” he answered. “All of it has been beyond the yellow-level buoys and two hundred seventy degrees to three hundred sixty degrees along the frontier boarder.”

  “So… that quarter,” I said, using my hands to indicate the booth section of the plaza.

  “Yes,” he confirmed. “If I may, Sir, what is your destination?”

  “We are going to Dinave in the Altera System,” I told him. “I guess that is in that direction.” Again I indicated the booth section of the plaza.

  “It is, Sir,” he responded with concern. “There are no passenger transports headed in that direction. How did you plan to get there?” His forehead crinkled as he frowned; his suspicion began to rise.

  “A friend had offered to transport us,” I replied.

  “Sir, who would that be?” he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Captain Matthias of the Falcarin,” I answered.

  “Ah, yes,” he said nodding. “He is smack dab in the thick of things. He is patrolling that region.” This time he indicated the booth section of the plaza. He was genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of the vessel and crew.

  “When do you expect to be in communication with him?” I asked.

  “We should be hearing from him four days from now,” he replied.

  “Barring any trouble, when do you expect him to return from his patrol?” I inquired.

  “I expect him back in nine days,” he told me.

  “Then, we will need housing,” I said. “Where and with whom do we make those arrangements?”

  He waved to someone at the service desk. Immediately, a tall, sandy-haired young man came to join us. “This is Lt. Sanders,” responded the commander. “He will take you to the housing manager.”